WESTFIELD – Charlie Medeiros would have smiled at the idea of having a Ward 1 street named after him. He would be downright laughing at the contentious process it took to initiate that process following a public hearing last night and a debate that divided the City Council.
The City Council voted 8 to 5 to close the public hearing and send the name change petition to City Property Committee for further review and action.
The idea of renaming Summit Lock Road to Medeiros Way was initiated more than a year ago by Ward 5 Councilor Richard E. Onofrey Jr., and Ward 1 Councilor Christopher Keefe to resolve the problem of tractor-trailer trucks, seeking Summit Lock Road business, ending up across town on Summit Drive, which is aptly named because it’s location near the top of Provin Mountain.
Technology created the problem of 50-foot long tractor-trailer units being stuck in a residential neighborhood on the slope of the mountain. Truck drivers type “SUMMIT” instead of “SUMMIT LOCK” into their GPS systems as they exit the Massachusetts Turnpike and follow directions that puts them at the Knollwood subdivision, creeping slowly up the steep slope toward Summit Drive which is located between Cedar Lane and Northridge Road.
“This has been a long time coming,” Onofrey said, referring to his effort to change the street name.
The focus initially, in December of 2011, was to change the name of Summit Dive, but residents of that street rebelled, submitting a petition to the City Council in November of 2012, then packing the City Council chambers to cite the economic impact of changing all of their documentation such as deeds, mortgages, various forms of personal identification.
Onofrey argued that the street name change is a public safety issue, with large commercial trucks rumbling through a residential area, damaging property and frequently requiring a response, on the city’s dime, of emergency response personnel to extricate the trucks from the residential maze.
“Trucks are being driven through Knollwood Heights, trying to get to Summit Drive and are getting stuck,” Onofrey said. “That is an inconvenience to residents, an inconvenience to the truckers. We need to get those trucks out of that residential neighborhood.”
“Residents have been putting up with this for years,” Onofrey said. “I’d like to see this move forward to get some relief for that neighborhood.”
Keefe said the Summit Lock Road name change will have a financial impact because the businesses located on that street will also have to change property documents, letter heads and invoices, and shipping and receiving documentation, as well as repainting the company name of its trucks.
“It will be inconvenient to the businesses, but it will also mean that their deliveries will get to them,” Keefe said, adding that the inconvenience is relative “compared to what the (Summit Drive) neighbors have had up Knollwood Heights. This should have been done six months ago.”
At-large Councilor David A. Flaherty noticed a fly in the ointment when he opened a discussion of a business owner who sent a letter opposing the name change and the fact that the city notified the property owners, but not the commercial tenants. The property is often listed under a holding company that has little, if any, contact with the commercial tenants other than collecting the rent.
“I would like to see this hearing continued,” Flaherty said. “The purpose of a public hearing is to get information from the public which can’t happen if they’re not here.”
Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell also argued to continue the public hearing because many of those commercial tenants never received notice of the hearing and that a name change will have a significant financial impact, “tens of thousands of dollars.”
“I’d like to see the hearing continued,” O’Connell said. “The cost of this name change will be huge. Continuing the hearing is the fair think to do.”
At-large Councilor James R. Adams said the council should have a sense or urgency to deal with a public safety issue.
“We have an obligation for the safety of the children in the Knollwood neighborhood. This has to be done,” Adams argued.
Ward 6 Councilor Christopher Crean said that the fact that property owners did not pass the notification on to their tenants is not the responsibility of the city or City Council.
“I realize that some tenants were not notified, but that’s not our responsibility,” Crean said. “I agree (with Adams) that this needs to be done and done now.”
At-large Councilor Agma Sweeney countered that the issue has been in the City Council for more than a year.
“We should (continue the hearing and) contact the businesses given that we have already waited this long,” Sweeney said.
At-large Councilor John J. Beltrandi III, who lives next to the Knollwood Heights neighborhood, said the city’s notification obligation has been met. “I’d like to see this resolved,” he said.
Keefe said the council members have three options: change the name of Summit Lock Road, change the name of Summit Drive or do nothing.
O’Connell argued that “a two-week delay will not be that harmful” to the Summit Drive residents.
“Take this opportunity to see how much it will cost those businesses,” she said. “It’s the responsible thing to do. I’d like to get an idea of the economic impact before we take this vote.”
At-large Councilor Brent B. Bean II said that extending the hearing to notify tenants would go well beyond current state notification laws.
“What is the alternative? Everything was done properly,” Bean said. “We’re opening a door we don’t want to open to just prolong this process. It’s a safety issue. We have to change the name of that street. I don’t know of an alternative. We’d still have to change the name of a street. We all know that it will cost someone something.”
Ward 3 Councilor Ann Callahan asked if the vote to continue the hearing and notify tenants would “set precedent. We’d have to notify every tenant in the future” of a public hearing in which they might have an interest.
State law dictates public hearing notices that require petitioners to notify abutters within 300 feet of the site through certified mail, with the signed receipts returned to the City Clerk’s office by the U.S. Post Office. Expanding that requirement would increase the cost of the notification process.
The hearing was then opened to the public with speakers both supporting the name change and opposing it. Several said the name change will have little, if any, immediate impact on truck traffic because of the lag time of several years needed to update GPS data.
Tom Liptak, a member of the Traffic Commission, said that board considered the name change to Medeiros Way in August of 2012 and tabled the issue because of the economic impact.
“For some (businesses) it will cost a lot of money ,” Liptak said. “The business owners should have been notified.”
One attorney, representing a business, said that his client will appeal any name change to the state Department of Transportation.
Keefe said that there are 17 parcels of land on Summit Lock Road, nine of those properties are vacant, with just eight “improved” parcels.
“We have the letter from one of those eight businesses. Two are represented here tonight, C&S sent their lawyer to the Traffic Commission to oppose this, so there are three businesses that we have not heard from,” Keefe said.
Voting to close the hearing and refer the issue to committee were Councilors Adams, Bean, Beltrandi, Callahan, At-large Councilor Kevin Harraghy, Keefe, Onofrey, and Council President Brian Sullivan.
Voting to continue the hearing to the council’s Sept. 19 session were Councilors Crean, Flaherty, O’Connell, Sweeney and Ward 2 Councilor Brian Winters.
